I though more about Vanda orchids after I made the first one... and I just had to make another kind of orchid, actually two. I was planning to make a bit more simple flower, but my habit is never go the easy way... I just had to paint the petals a bit and it is not the simpliest way of planting the flower. I have collected lots od friftwood for my fairy bases, and I searched tiny bits of them and mounted orchids on the wood. There is a hole on the wood and it hangs in really thin line. Both orchids are sold already.

Yesterday I introduced you to the Kalevala Jewelry, which are my passion... I dance belly dance as a hobby, and when I was twiddling my Kalevala Jewelry, I got the idea for an oriental themed picture with some Kalevala Jewelry. I always wear Kalevala pieces with my dance show costume, but this time I decorated a bit more. I am taking part in a photo contest at Kalevala Koru with my picture, and the contest ends in two days... There is really tough race going on with my picture and another one, so I really need all the help and every vote I can get. If you have FB account and applications allowed, would you be so kind and click the link and vote by clicking "ANNA ÄÄNESI" to help me win. Sorry it's in Finnish but you can vote anyway. Thank you so much for your help! ♥ ♥ ♥

I've become holistic. Jewelry-holistic. Specified as Kalevala Jewelry -holistic. I have always liked Kalevala Jewelry, and I have got a few as presents years ago, and bought a couple too. But this holistic thing lately is something totally different. I go absolutely crazy for old patinated big bronze jewelry full of history, and I have collected quite a good collection of them lately. Old jewelry have echoes of the past, some mystical continuum to ancestors who lived long long ago... after all, old Kalevala jewelry are replicas of the treasures in our National Museum.

Kalevala jewelry was founded by productive and creative Elsa Heporauta. She got the idea in the 100th celebration of our national epic poetry Kalevala, in the year 1935. She wanted to put up a statue to praise Kalevala women, and got the idea to fund it by reproducing for sale the historic jewelry in the museum. She founded Kalevala Women Society, and they hired designer Germun Paaer and some goldsmiths to make the jewelry, and they made instant success. The succes of Kalevala Jewelry has lasted decades after decades, even though thy have also made lots of modern jewelry, and nowadays the historic jewelry is minority of production. I like some new models, but my passion is to hunt for the really old pieces. Part of my treasures in the pic.

I got a commission. I was asked to make Vanda coerulea orchid in 1:12 dollhouse size. Not the easiest task I would say. But I took the challenge and this is the result. Actually it was fun to develop a new flower, and I am very satisfied, and so is the customer! Now I am making an another a bit easier kind of Vanda, the net pattern in coerulea petals was so challenging that I am not going to make another in near future... I think.

Every spring there is always time when I think that I haven't got enough time for everything that has to be done. Planting and seeding vedgetable garden, cutting bushes, carrying fertilizer (horse manure), putting up flower beds, weeding, planting summer plants... whoah. I started taking up and planting again the flower bench on the southern wall of the house. Glories-of-the-snows have spread up so much that they are suffocating some small perennials. I have been sifting their bulbs from the compost... which seems to be neverending job. Sun is shining so hot, bugs are eating me alive, and my back hurts. But I won't complain. It is so wonderful to have my own garden and everything is so beautiful! Daffodils and tulips are blooming like mad now. Gotta luv'em.

Yesterday was the first national community effort day in Finland, and our village Rautalampi had a huge 'bee'! There was small group of people planning the event during the winter, but yesterday there were as many as 350 people taking part, which is 1/10th of the villagers! They cleaned, cut trees and bushes, painted, washed, decorated... and made all kinds of useful things to make the village look prettier. Lots of work got done, salmon soup and donuts were delicious and there was even a party in the evening in the village house.

I painted with my girls. We painted a colourful rugrag on the wheelchair ramp in front of a supermarket with pretty colours, and it came out wonderful! It was fun to paint although the sun almost grilled us in front of the wall, but oh how nice it was to see the delighted faces of passers-by and hear their praising comments.

Oh yeah... this blog -does- exist. I have rudely forgot the whole blogging thing! Well, actually I have just spent too much time in Facebook that no time left for anything else in the internet world... That time consuming giant. Or perhaps I just haven't had enough significant things to write or picture here. Well I have had, but been lazy. Somehow I think I must have lots of words and lots of great pics to make a blog post... well it's not required I know. That's an excuse. Now I'll put my thinking-cap on and promise to make a few posts from the past months. I -have- done something worth showing.

I didn't carry on with the big painting yet, but painted some miniatures instead for a change. Three paintings were born, and they are all made with acrylic paints and are for sale. I used some old paintings as reference.

Awful flu. And the end of our Yule time today (in the traditional Finnish Yule this was the last day of the season, and it is also the center of the winter). The tree will go out today, if I am fit enoug to take the decorations down. Or perhaps I'll put children working on it. Then my hubby will take it out and cut the branhces to cover and protect my climber rose from heavy frost. The tree is still so beautiful and it hasn't dropped much of it's needles. It's a pity, but it has to go, I am tired of the decorations. I will leave some fairy lights but everything else must go.

But what is that strange light behind the tree? THE SUN! Oh how wonderful it feels after long grey and dark weather. Dear sun I have been missing you so much! The Lady of the Light who was protecting our tree, made her job and brought the sun back from the depths of the Lapland mountains.

Happy new year to my readers! ♥ The year begins with thoughs about our stove. I have been thinking of painting in. We made some renovations in our living room a few years ago, when we took down the old round stove, and got a new one that is made according to our own design. I had the vision of a painted stove with decorative paintings in my mind from the beginning. I don't like the white, something creamy would be more to my taste, and of course the plastered tile wall on the back too.

The stove has been in use for four and half winters, and it heats well. But something has happened, the plaster has come off a bit under the oven door, and there are some tiny cracks upper in the plaster. I have no idea why, perhaps the mason made some mistakes. Although he warned us it would be impossible for the plastered stove to remain without any cracks. Who knows.

Painting the stove will be on to-do-list in spring after the heating season, and after the crack has been repaired. But what I'll paint in it? Or will I paint anything at all? And what paint should I use? Perhaps I have to make my own paints with traditional instructions...

What is fantasy? Anything you can imagine, even if you had never seen it. Is it true or is it fake... that you just don't know for sure. Fairies, elves, spirits, sprites, mermaids, seirens, whitches, wizards, trolls, gnomes. In the old times people used to truly believe in them. Who wouldn't have heard tales of house gnomes, those little relatives of Christmas elves. There was another strange underground world, and fairies were something else than nice, beautiful fairy-tale sweethearts. They were mischievous, cunning, seductive and even evil beings, who could attract a careless person to their enchanted world forever. What do you believe in? You can experience something magical here, and you may sneak into the dreamlike world of the mystical beings.

Veistoksia vai nukkeja? - Sculptures or Dolls?

Veistoksia! Koska - nukella voi leikkiä, ainakin periaatteessa. No taidenukeilla ei tietenkään varsinaisesti leikitä. Nuken raajat yleensä liikkuvat, ja monesti vaatteet ovat riisuttavat/puettavat. Veistos perinteisesti mielletään pelkästään kovasta materiaalista tehdyksi taide-esineeksi, joten määrittely nuken ja veistoksen välillä näissä töissäni on vähän häilyvä, näillähän on päälle liimatut vaatteet - no, asut - ja hiukset. Eivät ihan perinteisiä veistoksia siis. Mutta miellän ne kumminkin veistoksiksi, enkä mielelläni puhu niistä nukkeina!Sculptures! Because - you can play with a doll, basically. Well, you don't really play with art dolls though. The limbs of a doll are usually posable, and you also can dress/undress a doll. A sculpture is traditionally an art piece made from hard material, so the line between a doll or a sculpture is thin in my work. They do have outfits glued on, and they do hyave real hair. Not traditional sculptures as you could say. But I think they are sculptures, and don't like to use the word doll when talking about them!

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